Peju Alatise

Alatise was born in 1975 in Lagos, Nigeria. She and her seven siblings grew up in a traditional Muslim family.[7]

Alatise first considered art as a career at the age of 15, when she viewed an exhibition by Nigerian artist David Dale.[7] When Alatise expressed her plan to become an artist, her father discouraged the idea, feeling that art was a waste of time; he wanted his daughter to choose an occupation that was more economically stable.[2][7] Her mother, however, supported Alatise's artistic pursuits, as a spiritualist had foretold that Alatise would one day be wealthy. Despite his original disapproval, her father was eventually won over to the idea before he died.[7]

Before pursuing art, Alatise studied architecture at a university, valuing the way it taught her to see and think logically.[7] During her college years Alatise began to explore her interests in art by visiting Jakande, a crafts market in Lagos. There, she practiced various media, including painting, sculpting, and jewelry making.[7]

She began her art career with painting, then branched out to be a multimedia artist, using beads, cloth, resin and other materials.[7] She now works in sculpture, using her art to make statements about social issues, while incorporating literature, symbolism and traditional Yoruba mythology into her works.[7] Alatise is also involved in bead making, visual arts consultancy, creative writing, leather accessory designing, and interior designing.

According to Vogue, "Alatise defines her artistic practice as a search for truth and to this end much of her work centres on women in Nigeria and on the political and religious issues at the heart of the country."[6] Strongly believing that an artist should depict the world she lives in, Alatise strives to visualize social issues of her country and personal experience.[2] Considering the strongly held social views of gender roles in Nigeria, it is not surprising that much of Alatise's artwork focuses on gender inequality and women's rights.[2] Using her art to make statements about social issues, Alatise acts as a creative social activist through art.[2] Alatise's work expands on Afro-feminist views by fracturing the male mould of Modern African culture.[8] Over the years, Alatise's work has put her on a pedestal with many other distinguished Nigerian female artists like Nike Davies Okundaye, Lara Ige-Jacks, and Ndidi Dike.

Although Alatise started her artistic career by exploring three-dimensional illusions on two-dimensional surfaces,[8] she also creates through literature.[7] This combined love of art and literature is reflected in one of her most stunning pieces, "Flying Girls".[1] Exhibited in Venice Biennale, this piece consisted of eight life-size girls with wings, and, according to fashion and entertainment website BellaNaija, is "based on the story of a ten-year-old girl who works as a housemaid in Lagos while dreaming of a realm where she is free, who belongs to no one but herself, and can fly."[1] BellaNaija also states that this piece "addresses the injustice of the present, but through a vision of a safer imaginary future, especially for little girls."[1] Additionally, this work addresses the issue of child labor.[7]

Alatise more directly combines her multidisciplinary skills in her 2013 exhibition, titled Wrapture. This piece combined short stories with sculptures, creating a visual narrative.[7]

Alatise has authored two novels, her debut novel being entitled Orita Meta.[9] A leading voice for contemporary African artists, she has used her work as a medium and voice to address societal ills and changing the stereotypical narrative and ideology.[7] Alatise is a fellow at the National Museum of African Art, part of the Smithsonian Institution.[10]

Alatise received the 2017 FNB Art Prize at the launch of the 10th instalment of the FNB Joburg Art Fair.[12] This art fair is located in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Her most recent concerns include creating artist residencies in Morocco and Turkey.[4] These are places where artists can live and work on their various art projects while being near other artists with similar interests.[7] In this way, Alatise focuses on supporting up-and-coming artists.[7]

In an interview with Aljazeera, Alatise described her goals in these words: "When I look at the standard in which I want my work to be, I look at what is happening on a global scale. The artists who inspire me are [those] whose works engage in a way that either inform or inspire you, [that] talk to the true essence of the human in you and I want my work to do the same."[7]

Peju founded the ANAI Foundation – a non-profit foundation dedicated to the development of visual arts in Nigeria, offering sponsored training programs for artists.[10]

• She has exhibited her works in various countries,[13] including the 2014 Casablanca Biennale in Morocco, Cooper Gallery for African and African American Art Harvard University, 2017, Resignification of Black Body, 2016 in Museo Bardini – Florence. Familiar boundaries - Infinite possibilities exhibition, August Wilson Centre, Pittsburgh,  USA.  Curator- Kilolo Luckett, October 2018–March 2019. EVA Ireland Biennial 2018. Curator- Inti Guerrero.  Manifesta 12, Resignification of Black bodies.  Palermo, Italy, Curator- Awam Ampka (New York University), June 2018. Péju Alatise Memoirs of the forgotten, 2019  Sulger Buel Gallery, London. Intricacies: Fragment & Meaning, Aicon Gallery, New York, 2019
• Material Witness (2012): Nike Art Gallery, Lagos. Photography by Marc C and Yinka Akingbade[14]
• WRAPTURE: a Story of Cloth (September 12–November 16, 2013): Art Twenty-One, Lagos. Photography by Marc C and Yinka Akingbade
• Casablanca Biennale 2014: Ifitry residency, Essaouira, 2013
• 1:54 CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN ARTFAIR (2014): Somerset House, London
• 57th Venice Biennale (2017): August Wilson Centre for Arts, 2018
• Prelude, pretexts and presumptions (2018): Arthouse Contemporary, Lagos

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